Cynthia Brown, Ed.D., M.Ed. in Special Education Program Co-Director
Mary Beth Sanders, Ed.D, M.Ed. in Special Education Program Co-Director

The Master of Education in Educational Leadership/Master of Education in Special Education is a 60-credit hour non-thesis program that prepares students to develop strong theoretical and experiential knowledge with leadership qualifications leading to campus and district administrative positions. Upon completion of the program, students will receive a Master of Education in Special Education and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership that can lead to state principal certification.

The dual master's program in Educational Leadership and Special Education offers two tracks that students may pursue:

Master of Education in Educational Leadership/Master of Education in Special Education

Master of Education in Educational Leadership/Master of Education in Special Education with Diagnostician Specialization

ADMISSION

In order to pursue a Dual Master's Degree program, the applicant must apply to, meet the existing admission requirements for, and be accepted into each of the master's degrees which comprise the dual degree program.

PREREQUISITE

Entrance requirements for both programs must be met, including having at last two years of acceptable teaching experience at an accredited public or private school by the time the candidate has completed the necessary coursework and is ready to take the appropriate certification examinations. A copy of the teacher candidate's service record will be required to substantiate the teaching experience requirement prior to recommending the teacher candidate to register for the state certification examinations.

PROGRAM CONTINUANCE

Continuance in the both programs past the first 12 hours is pending submission of a satisfactory score on the Miller Analogies Test (MAT) or Graduate Record Examinations® (GRE®).

A waiver of the GRE or MAT requirement may be considered if the student meets one of the following conditions:

earns an “A-“ or higher in each of the first four courses (12 hours) of graduate coursework in the DBU College of Education, or

holds a Bachelor’s degree from the DBU College of Education earned within the past five years with a cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher, or

holds a Master’s degree from DBU.

SPECIAL NOTICE FOR DUAL MASTER'S DEGREE STUDENTS:

College of Education graduate students who are in a dual master’s degree program where a state certification exam is required, should meet with their program advisor prior to registering for their first exam in order to determine which exam should be taken first. Students will be authorized only to take one TExES exam at a time. The first exam taken must be passed before permission to register for a second (different) exam will be given.

The Master of Education in Educational Leadership/Master of Education in Special Education with Diagnostician Specialization is a 60-credit hour non-thesis program that prepares students to develop strong theoretical and experiential knowledge with leadership qualifications leading to campus and district administrative positions. Upon completion of the program, students will receive a Master of Education in Special Education with Diagnostician Specialization and a Master of Education in Educational Leadership that can lead to state educational diagnostician and principal certifications.

M.Ed. in Special Education with Diagnostician Specialization Required Curriculum

60 hours

TOTAL Dual Degree (excluding prerequisites)

College of
Education Graduate Defense of Degree

Because of Dallas
Baptist University’s quest for meaningful assessment of graduate candidates, a
defense of degree is required in all College of Education Graduate Programs. The
defense of degree is a capstone collection of signature assessments and
artifacts with reflections that demonstrate a candidate’s personal growth,
development, and acquisition of knowledge, skills and dispositions.

A digital format
will be utilized by the candidate to enhance the presentation and to justify why
the degree should be awarded to the candidate. The candidate’s formal defense
will be presented to members of the Educator Preparation Board and will take
place on the main campus each semester.

It is recommended
that candidates attend a Defense of Degree workshop held each semester. It is
also the candidate’s responsibility to schedule a meeting with their designated
program director who will provide additional information regarding objectives,
service-learning, artifacts, reflections, presentation format, and evaluative
criteria and scoring.

Candidates must
register for the Defense of Degree course as prescribed
in their degree plan during the semester in which they will present their
defense of degree to the Educator Preparation Board. The EPB is a group of
experienced and widely successful educators from Dallas Baptist University and
the Metroplex. Practicing teachers, administrators, consultants,
superintendents, guidance directors, personnel directors, and Educational Region
Service Center personnel as well as DBU professors and administrators volunteer
their time for this highly selective process. The Educator Preparation Board
serves as the College of Education Graduate Programs’ advisory board and meets
three times a year to assess graduate candidates’ defense of degrees.

College of
Education Graduate E-Portfolio

Dallas Baptist
University’s educator preparation programs strive to provide a quality learning
experience that enables all candidates to impact P-12 learning. The E-Portfolio is designed to be an individualized collection of documents to prepare the
candidate for future positions; demonstrate the candidate’s ongoing knowledge,
skills, experiences, and dispositions; and provide the candidate with the
opportunity for self-reflection. All graduate candidates are required to compile
and maintain an electronic, developmental E-Portfolio. There are three types of
documents that must be included in the E-Portfolio: required documents,
foundational elements, and competency artifacts. Throughout the program, the
candidate will collect these documents and upload them to their designed
TaskStream account.

The organization of E-Portfolio is governed by the State Board of Educator Certification standards
and competencies, DBU/InTASC competencies, and DBU’s Educator Preparation
Provider competencies in addition to specific field of study competencies.

The E-Portfolio will be used to assess your development as you proceed through your designated
program. Candidates who do not have all required documents and “signature
assessments” uploaded into TaskStream will not be allowed to proceed to the next
level as designed by these Transition Points:

Transition Point
One: Requirements for Program Admission

Transition Point
Two: Requirements for Program Entrance

Transition Point
Three: Requirements for Program Continuance

Transition Point
Four: Requirements for Program Completion

Transition Point
Five: Requirements for Program Evaluation

It is the
candidates’ responsibility to meet with their designed program director and/or
advisor to discuss the E-Portfolio required documents, checkpoint scoring,
foundational elements rubric, and the competency artifacts rubric.